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(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

0. B. BURNASH.

FRUIT DRIER.

No. 247,160. Patented Sept. 20, 1881.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

0. B. BURNASH.

FRUIT DRIER- No. 247,160. Pathted'Sept. 20,1881.

(No Model.) 3 Shets-Sheet 3.

0. B. BURNASH.

FRUIT DRIER. I

No. 247,160. Patente l Sept. 20,1881

N. PETERS. Fhula-Lilhognmnen Washing m, o c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES B. BURNASH, OFTVILLANOVA, NEW YORK.

FRUIT-DRIER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 247,160, dated September 20, 1881, Application filed February 26, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES E. BURNASH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Villanova,in the county of Chautauqua and State of New York, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Fruit Driers or Evaporators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the details of construction of an improved apparatus for evaporating the moisture from sliced fruit, the object being to provide an apparatus of this class in which the currents of warm air are directed tothoseparts of theevaporating-chamberwhere they are required for curing the fruit without having to pass said currents of air by the damp fruit in the lower part of the chamber before it can reach that spread upon the trays in the upper part thereof; to provide improved means for lifting and lowering the fruit-trays within the chamber, and an improved furnace for generatin g theheatrequired to evaporate the moisture from the fruit.

In the drawings forming part of this speci fication, Figure l is a front elevation of a fruitdrier embodying my improvements, and having a portion of the jacket broken away near the bottom to show some of the details of the construction of the furnace and its contiguous parts. Fig. 2 is a vertical section. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the tray-frame detached from the machine, and showing the fruit-tray in proper position thereon. Fig. 4. is a plan view, partly in section, through the dotted line 10, Fig. 2.

In the drawings, A is the outer jacket of the machine.

h is a ventilating-pipe leading from the interior of the machine.

2 is an elevator-frame, attached to the top of the jacket A.

3 is an elevator-wheel, attached to the end of a shaft on which is a drum, 5.

4 is an elevator-belt.

8 is a stop-pin, passing through the frame 2 and the elevator-wheel 3.

E is a tube, suspended within the machine by the belt 4, and having upon it a series of collars,w, and a series of tray-frames,m, which are separated from each other by said collars.

7 is a tray, fitting between the arms of the tray-frames m.

D is a steadying-rod projecting upinto tube E, and having its bottom end secured in a post, 8. Said steadying-rod keeps the lower end of the tube E in proper position.

. b is the bottom of the evaporating-chamber, having in it openingsf, and having the post 8 fixed centrally therein. The said openings f in the bottom b have a series of fan-shaped covers, I), located above them, which are secured around a hub, s, which is fitted to slide up and down upon post 8. A rod, 8', passes through said hub s and a proper slot in post .9, and has connected to it a cord, 8 which winds upon a rod, 15, whose end reaches out through the jacket A, and has there fixed upon it a ratchet-wheel, w, and a pawl, 02, pivoted to theside ofjacket A, engages in the teeth of said ratchet. An interior wall, a, rests upon the bottom b,leaving a space, a, between it and the inner side of the jacket A. Said wall rises up about half of the height of the evaporatingchamber, as shown. A series of perforations, e, is made at the bottom of the annular space a, through the bottom I), as shown in Figs. 2 and 4.

Below the bottom I) is located a second bottom, 0, leaving a chamber, as shown, between it and said bottom I). Directly under said bottom 0' is located a furnace-jacket, c, of elliptical form, running under said bottom from front to rear, as shown in Fig. 2. Within said furnace-jacket c is placed the furnace proper, B, properly secured by flanges at each end to said jacket. Said furnace is provided with the usual grate-bars, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a door, (1, closing its front end, and a smoke-pipe, k, reaching from the rear up into the ventilatingpipe h. A bottomm, is fixed across the bottom of jacket A, under said jacket 0, and air-openings t" are made through bottom 12 and jacket 0, and openings 1: are made through said jacket and the bottom 0.

Above the furnace, resting upon bottom 0 over openings '5, is a deflector, 0. The evaporating-chamber is closed by the doors (1.

The operation of my fruit-evaporator is as fol lows: The fruit is cut into slices in the usual manner and placed upon the trays 7 six of which are placed upon each of the tray-frames m, and said tray-frames are brought in succession before the door d, so that the fruit may be conveniently laid upon the trays. Said frames, with tube E, are lifted and lowered by turning the wheel 3 and winding the belt 4 upon the drum 5, the stop-pin 8 holding wheel 3 whereeveritisstopped. Thetray-framesmturnfreely upon tube E, supported by collars as, so thatthe trays on one frame may be successively covered with the fruit to be dried. After said frames have been thus covered with the fruit the fire is kindled in the furnace B. As soon as heat becomes generated cold air passes up through the openings t' beneath the furnace, around the outside of said furnace, and so becomes heated, and passes up through the openings in the upper side of the jacket and through the bottom a, striking the under side of the deflector 0; thence passing up through the openings f in the bottom I), and through the openings c of said bottom. As the air passes through the openingsfit strikes the under side of the fanshaped covers I), and is disseminated in such a manner that its direct currents do not flow against the fruitlying on the trays above, and the air which passes up through the openings 0 at the base of the space a between the wall a and the jacketA passes directly up to the upper portion of the drying-chamber and there performs its drying duties, while the currents which pass up through the openingsfserveto act upon the lower trays in the drying-chamber. By turning the ratchet-wheel w and the rod tthe fan-shaped covers I) over the openings f in the bottom I) may be adjusted to such a height above the openings as may be required to permit more or less air to pass up through said openings.

A fruit drier or evaporator thus constructed provides a machine in convenientforin for use in privatefamilies, and in itself becomes a portable evaporatorembodying all of the elements requisite for completely drying fruit, with no other appliances than those here described and shown.

The furnace B is constructed of thin sheet metal, thus providing means for rapid radiation of heat, and but littlefuel is required. The top of the outerjacket, A, upon which the elevator-frame rests, is set in an inclined position to facilitate the rapid passage of vapors from the chamber to the "entilating-pipe h.

What I claim as my invention is 1. In a fruit-drier, the combination, with the outer jacket, A, and the inner wall, a, of the furnace B, the furnace-jacket c, the chamber-bottom 1), having the openings f and e therein, and the central post, 8, the vertically-adjustable fanshaped covers I), the tube E, the tray-frames m, and appliances, substantially as described, for raising, lowering, and supporting said trayframes within said jacket A, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In afruit-drier, thecombination of the furnaceB, the surrounding-jacket 0, having the air-passages tand t" through it, the perforated bottom 0, located directly over said jacket, and the deflector 0,substantially as andfor the purpose set forth.

3. In combination,thechamber-bottom I), havingtheopeningsf therein, and the central post, 8, the fan-shaped covers b, the rod it, connected by a cord to the hub s, ratchet-wheel w, and pawl v, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. In combination, the steadying-rod D, the tube E, the tray-frames m, the belt 4, drum 5, wheel 3, and stop-pin S, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

J. D. GARFIELD, H. A. OHAPIN. 

